More injury woes for the Lakers as Rajon Rondo is expected to miss extended time with a hand injury.
Sources on @TheAthleticNBA @WatchStadium: Los Angeles Lakers guard Rajon Rondo is expected to undergo surgery on his injured right hand and miss one month.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 28, 2018
Shams Charania of The Athletic is reporting that Rondo has a Grade 3 finger sprain in his right hand.
Four-week timetable for Rajon Rondo with surgery for Grade 3 finger sprain in right hand. Lakers now down two of their leaders in LeBron James (groin) and Rondo. https://t.co/CCbkOhq47G
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 28, 2018
Does this sound familiar? It should, as Rajon Rondo previously missed four weeks with a broken right hand.
The Lakers now will be without two of its veteran leaders, with LeBron James being day-to-day for the foreseeable future. However, the team rolled out a starting lineup last night with an average age of 21.8 that nearly ran away with a win against the Sacramento Kings. The team fell apart late, unfortunately, but the young core as showed that they aren’t afraid of a little challenge.
Many players on the team have stepped up to fill the large shoes of LeBron James and Rajon Rondo, including Ivica Zubac, who had many fans wondering why he was even on the team before his recent stretch of great games. Second-year forward Kyle Kuzma has also been stepping up in the scoring column for the Lakers while also being more productive than usual on the defensive end.
The Lakers have three tough conference games coming up, including a game with the city rival Los Angeles Clippers. The Western Conference is incredibly close from top to bottom and while it may seem like these late December games won’t matter come playoff time, they might make all of the difference in the world.
With the Rondo news today, it becomes incredibly important that LeBron James misses as few games as possible. Missing the playoffs isn’t an option for this Lakers team, and the team needs two of its best veteran players.
